South Road torn to pieces

Tuesday

Sep 29, 2009 at 2:00 AM

NORTH HAMPTON — The state is not taking responsibility for the section of South Road that has been torn up by heavy trucks moving equipment from a staging area to the construction site at the I-95 tolls.

Shir Haberman

NORTH HAMPTON — The state is not taking responsibility for the section of South Road that has been torn up by heavy trucks moving equipment from a staging area to the construction site at the I-95 tolls.

"South Road is a town road," said state Interim Turnpike Administrator Chris Waszczuk. "In our specifications, we require our contractors to notify the towns if they are hauling over their roads. Any damages can be recovered from the contractor."

Town Administrator Steve Fournier said that while he wasn't surprised at the state's response, he was angered by it. "I'm disturbed at the state for saying that," Fournier said. "It's their project and their contractors."

North Hampton Public Works Director John Hubbard had asked the Select Board to approve funding for a total rebuilding of about 600 feet of South Road in the area of Dearborn Road.

Hubbard warned the area was in rough shape and needed some work before winter. He had put a request for proposals out for repairs to this section of road, along with work on Pond Path and Bradley Lane.

At a Select Board meeting in early September, Hubbard presented the bids received for the projects and suggested that Pike Industries be named the contractor. While the board voted to allow work to go forward on Pond Path and Bradley Lane, the decision was made to put off the proposed reclamation project for South Road based on a recommendation from Fournier.

"My recommendation would be to table South Road for now," Fournier told the board. Hubbard agreed.

"The state is hauling over this stretch of South Road for the (Hampton) toll expansion project," he said. "I wouldn't do it until they were done."

That troubled Selectman Jon Rineman. "I can just imagine how bad South Road will be with the state running over it for the next few months," he said.

In response to that concern, the board instructed Hubbard to contact the three bidders for quotes on what a simple overlay project rather than a full reclamation on that road would cost. The DPW director was instructed to supply that information to the board at its Monday, Sept. 14 meeting.

At the Sept.14 meeting, Hubbard said he had not gotten a bid on the South Road work because he wanted to talk to the state concerning its liability. Fournier said Friday, he had not heard whether Hubbard had contacted the state or how much an interim fix to South Road would cost.

Advertise

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
seacoastonline.com ~ 111 New Hampshire Ave., Portsmouth, NH 03801 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service